BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1376
Author: Roger Hernández (D)
Amended: 4/30/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/12/13
AYES: Monning, Leno, Padilla, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Administrative adjudication: language assistance
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill shifts the responsibility for creating a
list of certified interpreters for administrative hearings from
the Department of Human Resources (CalHR) to the Division of
Workers' Compensation (DWC), as well as creates a process for
provisionally qualifying interpreters in administrative
hearings.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes a workers' compensation
system that provides benefits to an employee who suffers from an
injury or illness that arises out of and in the course of
employment, irrespective of fault. This system requires all
employers to secure payment of benefits by either securing the
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consent of the Department of Industrial Relations to self-insure
or by securing insurance against liability from an insurance
company duly authorized by the state.
Existing law provides that, if an employee submits to
examination by a physician at the request of the employer, the
employer's insurer, or other specified parties, and the employee
does not proficiently speak or understand the English language,
he or she shall be entitled to the services of a qualified
interpreter in accordance with conditions and a fee schedule
prescribed by the Administrative Director of the DWC. These
services shall be provided by the employer.
Existing law provides that, for the purposes of workers'
compensation, the interpreter can only be certified, or deemed
certified, through a certification process created by the State
Personnel Board (SPB), the Judicial Council, or a third-party
testing organization designated by the DWC.
Existing law also provides that an employer does not need to pay
for a non-certified interpreter unless the interpreter provides
interpretation services for a language where certification has
not been established.
Existing law requires the SPB designate the languages for which
certification shall be established. The languages designated
shall include, but not be limited to, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic,
Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Vietnamese until
the SPB finds that there is an insufficient need for
interpreting assistance in these languages.
Existing law requires the SPB to establish, maintain,
administer, and publish annually an updated list of certified
administrative hearing interpreters it has determined meet the
minimum standards in interpreting skills and linguistic
abilities in languages designated by the SPB.
Existing law requires the SPB to establish, maintain,
administer, and publish annually, an updated list of certified
medical examination interpreters it has determined meet the
minimum standards in interpreting skills and linguistic
abilities in languages designated by the SPB.
This bill:
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1. Requires that the CalHR (successor to the SPB) update the
certified interpreter lists only until December 31, 2018.
2. Requires the CalHR to maintain and publish the lists as of
December 31, 2013.
3. Shifts the responsibility for designating the list of
languages requiring certification from the CalHR to the DWC.
This bill also creates a qualification process for
administrative hearings. Specifically, this bill:
1. Requires that all interpreters used in administrative
hearings are qualified.
2. Requires that any interpreter who is certified be
presumptively qualified.
3. Allows agencies to provisionally qualify and use
interpreters.
In order to be provisionally qualified, both of the following
must be true:
1. Good cause exists to appoint a nonlisted interpreter.
2. The interpreter is qualified to interpret the proceedings.
In determining whether the interpreter is qualified, the hearing
examiner or agency, as appropriate, shall consider all of the
following:
1. Any interpreter examination or evaluation taken by the
interpreter and the results of this examination or
evaluation.
2. The interpreter's general education, language training,
interpreting training, and translation training.
3. The interpreter's language teaching experience.
4. The interpreter's prior experience interpreting in court
proceedings, administrative hearings, medical examinations,
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and other settings.
5. The interpreter's experience with written translation.
6. Any training in professional ethics.
7. The interpreter's training in applicable terminology.
This bill also requires that if any party objects to the
qualifications of the proposed interpreter, the objection must
be noted on the record of the hearing or evaluation.
Prior legislation . SB 863 (DeLeon, Chapter 363, Statutes of
2012), among other things, allowed the DWC to establish,
maintain, administer, and publish annually an updated list of
certified administrative hearing interpreters who have been
certified by an independent testing organization designated by
the Administrative Director of DWC.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Department
of Industrial Relations (DIR) estimates costs (all special
funds) between $50,000 and $100,000 to contract for a study to
determine which languages require certified interpreters beyond
the eight languages identified in current law.
By removing CalHR's mandatory responsibility for certifying
interpreters and leaving DIR as the only agency with existing
authority, this bill moves responsibility for interpreter
certification to DIR to the extent that new certifications
continue. DIR estimates costs of $10,000 to $30,000 to develop
an interpreting exam for each additional language and utilizing
estimates from a similar bill introduced in a prior session,
cites costs of $190,000 in the first year, and $120,000 ongoing,
to operate the certification program.
Finally, this bill will result in a revenue loss of roughly
$60,000 (General Fund) for five years from the stoppage of
collecting a $100 fee from certified interpreters on the current
list, somewhat offset by minor savings related to the
elimination of fee-collection costs.
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SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/13)
California Association of Joint Powers Authorities
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : California Association of Joint Powers
Authorities (CAJPA) argues that setting out a process where the
Administrative Director of the DWC is given oversight and
responsibility for establishing, maintaining, administering, and
publishing an annual updated list of certified medical
examination interpreters will expedite claim resolution in the
long term. Additionally, CAJPA notes that this bill provides a
process of provisionally qualifying interpreters, which CAJPA
believes will improve the quality of interpreter services. With
these two key reforms, CAJPA argues that this bill will improve
the workers' compensation system for both injured workers and
employers in providing high quality, time-sensitive, and
necessary interpreter service.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,
V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Buchanan, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Grove,
Holden, Melendez, Morrell, Stone, Vacancy
PQ:k 8/31/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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